The power of a pod

Converted garages, honest story tellers and postproduction know how. Britt Coker finds out all about the life of a podcast host.

Listening to strangers talk to other people, or themselves, has become quite the thing. Not a new thing, of course. It wasn’t that long ago that families huddled around one lone radio in their home for the latest news and entertainment. But those were the dark ages and now we are in the LED light ages where everyone has a device, and anyone can interview people and make a podcast out of it.

On the surface of it, it seems like we’re returning to simpler times, but the truth for many of us is that we are trying to fit more in. While doing chores or exercise, we now want to hear somebody else’s insightful or amusing thoughts rather than our own, and we’ve got plenty of voices to choose from. In fact, three or four million podcasts exist online and about 500,000 are active. Many were born out of global lockdowns, but those days are behind us, while the podcasting industry is continuing to grow, both in podcasts and listener numbers.

According to global legend, they were initially called auditory blog posts (not quite so catchy) but in 2004, blending the words iPod and broadcast got us to where we are today.

In downtown Brightwater, Hayley Peti is a podcaster and mother of two young children. Initially, she was looking for something to do at home that would be a nice adjunct to being a mother. Her decision to podcast stemmed from a desire for those deep and meaningful conversations that preschoolers just don’t seem to have time for.

“I sat on the idea for a very long time because it didn't feel easy. I got really caught up in how I was going to do the tech side of things. The talking part for me was fine, it was more, ‘Oh, you want to a start a podcast, how in the world do you do that?’ I had no idea.

I was invited to be on somebody else's podcast and I loved the experience so much, and this person said to me, often the things that you see other people doing and think that would be so cool, that there is actually something in it that you should be doing also.”

This was the push Hayley needed. There was still technology to decipher but she realised that it was ridiculous to try and match the high-profile, high-production value podcasters who have a team of people and a commissioned music sting behind them. The other important ingredient is subject matter. Hayley has found a lot of interviewees through her Instagram account. People who have lives or life experiences that resonate.

“They [the episodes] all naturally tend to be around wanting to inspire, or motivate, or have people feel good after listening to it, or spark something within them. I didn't actually go out to do that, but I think that it's just naturally gravitated towards that because that's where I'm at in my life and it really was about speaking about whatever was coming up for me that I thought might be beneficial to somebody.”

“I love just having conversations with people about whatever it is that's going on in their world and their life, and I'm really interested in holistic spiritual kind of personal development stuff, so it does naturally go towards that and women in business and women empowerment.”

Now that Hayley has one year’s experience on her side, keeping the momentum going is her next big challenge. Her husband regularly works away leaving her as a solo parent, so she sometimes finds herself chatting on a podcast with one ear tuned in to small children goings on.

She uses the hosting platform Buzzsprout which uploads her podcasts (Hi it’s Me, Hayley) on to several podcast sites including Apple and Spotify. The monthly cost is minimal but it's still a hobby until you see any financial return on investment, presuming that’s even the goal.

“If I'm being really honest with myself, subconsciously I was always hoping that it would be a stepping stone to lead into something that I could make a business out of. Not so much the podcast as such, but even if the podcast was complimentary because I'm getting into mentorship and mindset life coaching so the podcast is just another platform to engage with people and get my thoughts and ideas out there, where people can form a relationship and a connection to who I am as a person.”

For a guy who says he wasn’t very good at rugby, James Marshall has made a pretty good career out of it. Admittedly, this modest confession is channelling sixteen-year-old James, not the guy who subsequently enjoyed 12 years as a professional player for the Tasman Mako, Wellington Hurricanes, and teams in England, Japan and Italy. He eventually transitioned from a player to his current role as a member of the Crusaders coaching staff. All that, because at 16 he committed to it. “I sort of decided, I'm just gonna give it a genuine crack”.

But while James is now well-known in rugby circles, he is becoming just as recognised these days for also having given a genuine crack at podcasting. What A Lad began three years ago, initially interviewing sports players but he has since broadened his interviewee specialty subjects beyond the code. From the outset, he’s never been interested in post-match analysis, his focus is more on the human stories of vulnerability and challenge.

“I could see what these guys were like in the changing rooms; real characters, some awesome stories, but whenever I saw them doing an interview they're giving no personality, it just used to frustrate me. I felt like it was a real space for me to try and give an insight into what these guys are really like and get them to share their true personalities.”

Like Hayley, James watched YouTube tutorials on how to set up a podcast. Three expectations or goals he says you should keep in mind are - get past the first seven episodes (“Most people have given up by then”), prepare for post-production editing to be time consuming, and don’t expect to make money from it for a while, if ever.

James hit the magic seven episodes a while ago, closer now to 250 podcasts with 1.3 million downloads behind him. Based on his personal history, you need a spare bedroom, a shed and a garage, but not necessarily in that order.

He acknowledges being well-known in oval ball circles has been useful for finding people to interview (“The rugby world is so small, you’re one person away from basically every player in the world.”) and the momentum of regular shows can make it easy to find the next person.

“For me it's just about giving guys and girls that platform where they can share their story, be vulnerable and share a bit more of their real personality, what they are really like. Get to the end of the conversation hoping that people get a really good insight into what that person was like and some of the struggles and highs and lows of the journey that they went on.”

“Some of the messages I get are pretty powerful, they’re in a really dark place. They’re questioning their life and all this sort of stuff, but listening to the podcast has given them a new hope. When you get things like that, yeah, it's pretty deep and powerful stuff and makes you realise that you're doing good even though you might not feel it. You’re just talking to mates and talking through their journey, which is cool, but to hear the effect that it’s had on some people was definitely pretty powerful.”

Hayley has experienced her own personal development through the experience. “I thought, I want to make it really good and I want to be right up there right from the beginning and I had to let all of that go, which was really hard for me as I’m quite a perfectionist. And the other thing that I have really learned is that I am not for everybody and that's OK. I used to be a massive people pleaser, I just wanted everybody to like me, and I cared so much about what other people thought.

Putting out a podcast, especially from Nelson, it’s a small town. I thought, ‘Who am I to do a podcast? I’m not cool enough to do one’. But I wanted to do this for me. I know I've got some things to share, and I know that the conversations that I would have with others, people would get lots of benefit from. So even if it's not for everybody it's actually OK, because if I cared what everybody thought I wouldn't do anything.”